CJI Surya Kant bats for mediation; says arbitration faces procedural hurdles

Published 9 June 2026 · india

Observing that international arbitration is increasingly facing procedural hurdles, Chief Justice of India () Surya Kant said mediation is no longer an alternative but an

Observing that international arbitration is increasingly facing procedural hurdles, Chief Justice of India () Surya Kant said mediation is no longer an alternative but an essential instrument to achieve timely, amicable and lasting resolution of disputes. He was delivering a lecture on "Mediation, Arbitration and the Courts: Converging Trends in the Indian and English Approaches in Commercial Dispute Resolution" at the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on Monday (June 8, 2026). Calling for a fundamental shift in how global corporations and legal systems approach conflict, the said, "The primary question for a modern corporation should no longer be where to litigate, but rather how to resolve." He said courts, arbitration and mediation should not be viewed as competing mechanisms but as complementary institutions serving distinct functions within a broader justice ecosystem. "We must reject the archaic narrative that pits alternative dispute resolution against the majesty of formal courts," he said. "Traditional courts must continue to remain the ultimate guardians of public legal standard-setting and constitutional accountability. Yet, where the court provides the architecture of certainty, mediation serves as the adaptive mechanism for private commercial harmony. The two systems do not diminish one another; they sustain each other," he said.

At the outset, the dealt with arbitration, especially international arbitration, as one of the important alternate dispute resolution mechanisms and referred to the difficulties being faced across jurisdictions in getting disputes resolved through this. "It is my earnest belief that as international arbitration has increasingly mirrored the very procedural complexities it was designed to escape, it is mediation that now emerges as the authentic frontier of commercial agility," he said. "Over the last several decades, arbitration has indubitably come to be viewed across jurisdictions as a response to some of the perceived limitations of court-centric adjudication, particularly in matters involving speed, technical complexity, party autonomy, and cross-border commerce," he said. Kant said that in India, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act came into being in 1996 and various judicial interpretations also advanced "a pro-arbitration approach", keeping in harmony with internationally accepted principles governing commercial dispute resolution. Indian courts have repeatedly reaffirmed the principle of minimal judicial intervention for preserving the sanctity of arbitral proceedings, he said. "However, in spite of its virtues, arbitration seems to be on the verge of inheriting some of the very procedural burdens from which it originally sought to depart.